Borsa Istanbul up at open

BIST 100 index opens 1.01 pct higher to over 90,000 points; US dollar/Turkish lira rate stands around 3.68

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey's benchmark index started Thursday with a 902.80-point increase to open at 90,348.34.

In opening transactions on the fourth business day of the week, the BIST 100 index rose 1.01 percent.

The banking and holding sector indices went up 1.34 percent and 0.96 percent, respectively.

Among all sectors, the banking sector index was the best performer, while the leasing and factoring sector index started the day with the biggest decline, falling 3.83 percent.

At Wednesday's closing session, the benchmark index was up 309.02 points, or 0.35 percent, to close at 89,445.55 points, with a total trading volume of 3.6 billion Turkish liras (approximately $967.4 million).

The U.S. dollar/Turkish lira exchange rate slipped to 3.6860 at 9.30 a.m. local time (0630GMT) on Thursday after the Federal Reserve's interest rate decision, compared with 3.7250 at Wednesday's close.

The Federal Reserve raised its benchmark interest rate 0.25 percent, the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) announced Wednesday.

Meanwhile, investors will follow Turkey's Central Bank interest rate decision on Thursday.

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